Fourths Tuning — Modes
Modes in standard tuning are hard. The B string anomaly — that single major third sitting in an otherwise all-fourths tuning — means that every modal pattern has to be adjusted as it crosses that string pair. Most guitarists either work around it indefinitely or give up on modes entirely because the patterns never quite feel consistent.
In fourths tuning that problem disappears. With every string pair a perfect fourth apart, modes behave with a symmetry and consistency that standard tuning simply can’t offer. A modal pattern learned in one position transfers identically to every other position, in every key, with no adjustments. The theory that always felt abstract in standard tuning suddenly has a direct, logical connection to what’s under your fingers.
Fourths Tuning Modes is built entirely around that insight — and around making modes genuinely usable in your playing rather than just theoretically understood.
What the book covers
- The modes of the major scale and the melodic minor scale — both as parent scales for diatonic chord progressions, and as standalone scales for improvising over isolated or non-diatonic chords
- A concise, practical explanation of modal theory — enough to understand what you’re doing without drowning in abstraction
- How to instantly find the parent scale of any mode
- How to construct modal chord progressions and use them musically
- How to use backing tracks effectively for modal practice
- A system for organising modes on the fourths fretboard that also clears up any gaps in your modal understanding from standard tuning
Who it’s for
Guitarists already playing or learning in fourths tuning who want a complete modal system for the fourths fretboard. Also ideal for anyone making the transition from standard to fourths tuning — working through modes in fourths often resolves confusion that standard tuning created in the first place.
Also in the Fourths Tuning series
Fourths Tuning — Chords and Inversions.
Get the book →Fourths Tuning — Scales and Arpeggios.
Get the book →New to fourths tuning?
The All Fourths Tuning PDF guide is a free starting point — chord, arpeggio and scale diagrams, no sign-up required.
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